CVE-2025-43264
Published: 02 April 2026
Summary
CVE-2025-43264 is a high-severity Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer (CWE-119) vulnerability in Apple Macos. Its CVSS base score is 8.8 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Client Execution (T1203); ranked at the 31.8th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 SI-10 (Information Input Validation) and SI-16 (Memory Protection).
Deeper analysis
CVE-2025-43264 is a memory corruption vulnerability (CWE-119) addressed through improved memory handling in macOS. It affects macOS versions prior to Sequoia 15.6, where processing a maliciously crafted image can lead to process memory corruption. The vulnerability was published on 2026-04-02 and carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 8.8 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H).
Attackers can exploit this vulnerability remotely over the network with low attack complexity and no required privileges, though user interaction is necessary, such as opening or viewing the malicious image file. Successful exploitation enables high-impact consequences, including unauthorized disclosure of information, modification of data, and denial of service through process disruption.
Apple's security advisory confirms the issue is fixed in macOS Sequoia 15.6. Security practitioners should ensure systems are updated to this version or later, and advise users to avoid processing untrusted images. Additional details are available at https://support.apple.com/en-us/124149.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2025-209198
Vulnerability details
The issue was addressed with improved memory handling. This issue is fixed in macOS Sequoia 15.6. Processing a maliciously crafted image may corrupt process memory.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Memory corruption in image processing with remote vector and required user interaction (opening/viewing crafted file) directly enables client-side exploitation and malicious file execution leading to RCE.
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
SI-16 directly mitigates memory corruption vulnerabilities like CVE-2025-43264 by enforcing memory protection mechanisms such as non-executable memory and bounds checking during image processing.
SI-10 prevents exploitation by validating malformed image inputs that could trigger memory corruption in the image processing component.
SI-2 ensures timely application of vendor patches, such as macOS Sequoia 15.6, to remediate the specific memory handling flaw in CVE-2025-43264.